Pensieve
The Pensieve is an object used to review memories. It has the appearance of a shallow stone basin, into which are carved runes and strange symbols. It is filled with a silvery substance that appears to be a cloud-like liquid/gas; the collected memories of people who have siphoned their recollections into it. Memories can then be viewed from a third-person point of view. History of known use May 1995 The first time Harry Potter saw a Pensieve was in Albus Dumbledore's office in his fourth year, which he used to view the headmaster's memory of Death Eater trials at the end of the First Wizarding War. It was there that Harry witnessed the trial of Barty Crouch Jr. and the others who tortured the Longbottoms to insanity. He also saw Igor Karkaroff and Ludo Bagman being questioned. Early 1996 Sometime after returning from the Christmas break of his fifth year at Hogwarts, Harry viewed a memory in the Pensieve of Severus Snape and witnessed his worst memory — being bullied by James Potter and Sirius Black and lashing out at Lily Evans when she came to his defence. This summarily ended Harry's Occlumency lessons with the Potions Master, as he was furious with Harry at seeing the memory. At the end of the school year, Dumbledore used the Pensieve to show Harry his memory of Sybill Trelawney's Prophecy concerning Harry and Voldemort. 1996-1997 .]] In Harry's sixth year, he repeatedly used the Pensieve under Dumbledore's instruction to see how Tom Riddle grew into Voldemort. Memories are viewed from many sources, including Ministry of Magic employee Bob Ogden, a house elf named Hokey, Morfin Gaunt, Horace Slughorn, and several of Albus Dumbledore's own memories. These memories were instrumental to Harry understanding Voldemort's mindset, allowing him to deduce later where he had hidden his life sustaining Horcruxes. 1998 .]] Harry entered the Pensieve again in 1998 with memories acquired from Severus Snape in his dying moments. Harry learned of Snape's friendship with, and unrequited love for, Harry's mother Lily, the reason for Dumbledore's trust in Snape, and that Voldemort had inadvertently made Harry a Horcrux. Harry finally realizes that Snape was on his side the whole time, starting from the time that Voldemort had threatened Lily. It was only that Snape could not stand to be around the child of his enemy, James Potter, whom Harry looks almost exactly like and that Harry was living proof that Lily had loved another man. Apart from having his mother's eyes, Snape only saw James through Harry, even saying that he had his father's "knack for trouble". Behind the scenes *In the books, the Pensieve is said to be able to sit on a table, however, in the fourth film, the Pensieve is much larger and is kept in a separate cabinet. This is contradicted by the sixth film, where it can sit on the table. It is also much smaller than in the previous film and looks as if it is made out of metal instead of stone. This contradiction is resolved in the eighth film, when Harry goes to the headmaster's office and removes the metal dish from the stone basin before watching Severus Snape's memories. *In the film adaption of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, when Harry used the pensieve, he was sitting in the court itself and watching the hearing as if he was part of it while in the film adaption of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry is merely watching the memory but is not seen anywhere in it. Etymology Pensieve seems to be a portmanteau, combining the words ‘pensive’ and ‘sieve.’ The latter is an object in which something may be sorted, and ‘Pensive’ is derived from French, and originally from the Latin ‘pensare,’ meaning ‘to ponder,’ and in common English usage means ‘thoughtful’ or ‘reflective;’ thus a ‘pensieve’ allows for the sorting of thoughts, or memories. Appearances *''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'' *''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film)'' *''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (video game)'' *''Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'' *''Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'' *''Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (film)'' *''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'' *''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1'' *''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2'' *''The Wizarding World of Harry Potter'' de:Denkarium es:Pensadero fr:Pensine fi:Ajatuseula ru:Омут памяти Category:Objects